Operations and Exploration Update - March 2015

Mwana Africa PLC

("Mwana", the "Group" or the "Company")

Operations and Exploration Update - March 2015

Mwana Africa is pleased to provide an update on its operations and exploration activity for the fourth quarter ending 31 March 2015 (Q3 2015).

Q4 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

GOLD - FREDA REBECCA (ZIMBABWE)

· Gold production increased 0.42% to 14,358 ounces from 14,298 (Q3 2015). Gold recovery increased to 83% from 78% (Q3 2015) which resulted in higher gold production quarter on quarter

· Tonnes milled decreased by 8% to 297,953t (Q3 2015 - 322,216t) as mill throughput and running time both reduced by 4%

· Gold recovery increased to 83% from 78% in Q3 2015

· Average feed grade for Q4 2015 was 4% lower than Q3 2015 as working through the low grade zone persisted longer than estimated

· C1 Cash costs for Q4 2014 improved by 4% to US$1,076/oz from US$1,118/oz (Q3 2015). All-in sustaining costs improved by 4% to US$1,254/oz from US$1,304/oz (Q3 2015)

· Average gold price received was US$1,222/oz (Q3 2015 (US$1,195/oz)

NICKEL - TROJAN NICKEL MINE (ZIMBABWE)

· Sales of nickel in concentrate rose by 49% quarter-on-quarter to 2,072 tonnes (Q3 2015: 1,395 tonnes)

· Mill head grade was 44% higher at 1.669% nickel (Q3 2015: 1.156% Ni) as better equipment availability allowed greater mining in the massives in line with the mine plan

· Mill throughput fell to 140,045t (Q3 2015 148,712t) as production was constrained by a temporary hoist breakdown which has been resolved

· Average price received for metal in concentrates was $9,489/t (Q3 2015: $10,313/t)

· All-in sustaining costs reduced significantly by 36.5% to $7,293/t contained nickel (Q3 2015: $11,491/t) as greater nickel production contributed to lower unit costs

NICKEL - BINDURA SMELTER (ZIMBABWE)

· $20 million, 5-year bond to finance smelter re-start fully subscribed during the quarter and closed on 27 February 2015

· Submission to Environmental Management Authority (EMA) made in October 2014. EMA acknowledged receipt in November 2014 and invoiced BNC for review costs in March 2015. Review cost level still under discussion

· Work on the smelter re-start project progressed with major components either already delivered or due to be delivered between April through to June 2015

DIAMONDS - KLIPSPRINGER (SOUTH AFRICA)

· Recovery from Marsfontein fine residue tailings (attributable 50%) 17,781ct (Q32015: 31,850ct). Processing of residues constrained by need to tighten security after an armed robbery in January

· Sales in New York and Amsterdam (attributable 50%) 11,748ct (Q3 2015: 44,200ct)

· Average sale price $19.50/ct (Q3 2015: $19.31/ct)

· Bulk sampling of Leopard Fissure tailings dump progressed and will be concluded in Q2 2015

· Mining of lower grade areas continued during the quarter as access to higher grade areas in proximity to the dam wall remains restricted during wet weather conditions

· Application for the renewal of mining rights continues and a response is still awaited. During the quarter, discussions with a BEE partner on arrangements acceptable to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) continued

EXPLORATION HIGHLIGHTS

GOLD - ZANI-KODO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - DRC)

· No drilling was carried out in the fourth and preceding two quarters.

· Regional and district field investigations continued through rainy season

· Activity was focused on detailed mapping in the promising mineralised zones of the Godawiza block and Djalasega areas

COPPER/COBALT - SEMHKAT/HAILIANG JV (DRC)

· Mwana and Hailiang are finalising the work programme and budget for2016

· Assay results of drill cores from five priority targets are due to be delivered by Hailiang. Geological fieldwork remained halted by rainy season throughout the entire quarter.

Kalaa Mpinga, Chief Executive Officer of Mwana Africa, commented:

"The past quarter has been a period of significant progress across our existing operations and new projects and we are working steadily towards major near-term developments in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

At Freda Rebecca we have achieved steady production, although the need to work through low-grade zones as development moved towards new high-grade and main stopes persisted. While gold prices declined progressively throughout the financial year, the Company was able to achieve a 4% reduction in Freda Rebecca's cash costs. The focus remains on further curtailing of costs and grade control as mining moves increasingly into the higher-grade stopes.

Work at Trojan Nickel Mine progressed steadily as the refurbishment of equipment programme begins to have a positive impact. While the global nickel price declined in the quarter, All-in sustaining costs reduced 36.5% as greater nickel production contributed to lower unit costs.

In February we completed the raising of $20 million through the issue of a five-year bond bearing a 10% coupon. The funds will be used to re-start the smelter during the new financial year and initial work has progressed well.

The safety, health and well-being of our people remains our number one priority, so it is with great sadness that I must record the tragic loss of our colleague Binwell Mazivazvose at the Trojan Nickel Mine during the quarter.

My deepest sympathy and that of everyone at Mwana go to his family. This untimely accident has spurred the Company to even greater efforts to ensure that our operations are free from fatalities and injuries.

There remain challenges ahead. But with our newly refreshed Board now in place, and the results of our comprehensive cost control programme beginning to bear fruit, Mwana is well positioned to deliver positive results."

Mwana contact details

For further information contact:

Mwana Africa PLC

Kalaa Mpinga, CEO Tel: + 44 (0) 203 696 5470

Caroline Mathonsi, Investor Relations

Nominated Adviser and Broker

Peel Hunt LLP

Matthew Armitt / Ross Allister Tel: +44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Public Relations

Tavistock (UK)

Ed Portman / Jos Simson / Mike Bartlett Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150

Russell and Associates (South Africa)

Jim Jones/Leigh King Tel: +27 (0) 11 880 3924

ABOUT MWANA AFRICA

Mwana Africa PLC is a pan-African, multi-commodity mining and development company. Mwana's principal operations and exploration activities cover gold, nickel, copper and diamonds in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa.

COMMENTARY

CORPORATE

During the period, Mwana received a request from a small number of private shareholders to requisition a General Meeting of the Company (the "Requisition"). As part of the process, Mwana met with several shareholders and investigated the validity of the Requisition. The Company has concluded that - following the withdrawal from the Requisition of one of the original parties - the requisitioners do not have sufficient support to require the directors to convene a general meeting at the current time.

The Requisition suggested, inter alia, that the Company put forward a number of proposals at a general meeting including:

· To resolve the petition filed by CIMGC against the Company at the High Court of Justice; and

· The appointment of certain Non-Executive Directors ("NEDs") in place of four of the existing NEDs of Mwana.

In its correspondence to the private shareholders concerned, Mwana clarified the following points:

· The Company is continuing in constructive dialogue with its major shareholder, CIMGC. Both Mr Ning and the Company's CEO, Kalaa Mpinga, continue dialogue on a regular basis and have met on numerous occasions in recent months in both South Africa and China. Mwana remains confident a mutually beneficial outcome can be reached in due course;

· The Board continues to operate effectively and efficiently and is continuing its plans for board succession to appoint a permanent Chairman, further improving the Board's overall makeup; and

· The Board as currently constituted has the right balance of independent Non-Executive Directors with relevant geographic experience, expertise and shareholder representation.

The Board has sensible and appropriate succession planning in place, including for the position of Chairman and closer London/AIM market representation, which will be activated once a satisfactory outcome to the petition has been realised.

OPERATIONS

GOLD - FREDA REBECCA GOLD MINE (ZIMBABWE)

Table 1

Figures shown are unaudited and may vary upon final audit. Gold ounces produced incorporate gold released from or caught in 'lock-up' for each period.

Cash cost per ounce sold includes costs for mining, processing, administration, accounting movements for stockpiles and gold-in-circuit, and, net proceeds from by-product credits. It excludes capital costs for exploration, mine development or processing mill capital works, and, the cost of royalties.

All-in sustaining cost reflects cash costs per ounce sold plus depreciation and amortisation, thus incorporating the capital cost of production, plus interest, other indirect costs and royalties. All-in sustaining cost represents all costs attributable to gold production over the period.

COMMENTARY

Mined tonnages dropped by 5% quarter-on-quarter to 254,469t from 269,085t although annualised production for FY2015 of 1.2 million tonnes was 20% greater than FY2014. This was as a result of aligning underground production with plant throughput by depleting accrued stockpiles. This, in turn, stemmed from the focus on curbing costs.

Gold production increased by 0.4% to 14,358oz in Q4 2015 from 14,298oz in Q3 2015. Milled tonnage decreased by 8% to 297,953t in Q4 2015 (Q3 2015 - 322,216t) as mill throughput and running time were both 4% lower quarter on quarter. Nevertheless, a mill throughput of 1.2Mt was achieved for FY2015 as a whole.

Running hours decreased due to scheduled replacement of mil clutches plus partial repair work on mil components on both mills discharge grates necessitating stoppages. Scheduled replacement is due in Q12016

An 11,300m drilling program including surface and underground holes aimed at improving grade estimation and confidence as well as increasing mine life is planned to commence this month. Following completion of the drilling program an updated independent JORC compliant resource statement is planned for completion by the end of Q2 2015. .

A secondary crushing circuit was commissioned during the quarter and commissioning is still in progress. Full benefits are expected to be received during Q1 2016.

Gold recovery for Q4 2015 was 7% higher at 83% (Q3 2015: 78%) as losses to tailings because of fine carbon were reduced. Fine carbon was scalped from the plant by using a sizing screen, modifications to the escaped carbon screen and poor quality carbon was replaced.

Cash costs decreased by 4% to $1,076/oz from $1,118/oz in Q3 2015. Re-negotiation of contracts with service providers, reduction in fuel costs and cyanide prices contributed to the decrease in operating costs. All-in sustaining costs realised a net decrease of 4% from $1,304/oz in Q3 2015 to $1,254/oz in Q4 2015.

Gold production in Q1 2016 is expected to improve on the previous quarter despite scheduled mill wear replacement. This will be due to sustained recoveries, improved mill throughput from secondary crushing whilst grades are expected to remain at current levels.

NICKEL: TROJAN NICKEL MINE (ZIMBABWE)

TABLE 2

Note: the company has amended the reporting of the nickel price recovered, cash cost and all in sustaining cost. The average nickel price recovered reflects the actual price received rather than the actual average price for the quarter as previously reported. Cash costs and all in sustaining costs are now reported as actual costs incurred, previously these costs were adjusted for the opportunity cost forgone as a result of selling a nickel concentrate rather than a nickel cathode.

Cash cost per tonne includes costs for mining, processing, administration, off-take costs and penalties, transport costs, accounting movements for stockpiles, and net proceeds from by-product credits. It excludes capital costs for exploration, mine development or processing mill capital works, and, the cost of royalties.

All-in sustaining cost reflects cash cost per tonne plus depreciation and amortisation, thus incorporating the capital cost of production, plus interest, other indirect costs and royalties. All-in sustaining cost represents all costs attributable to nickel production over the period.

COMMENTARY

Milled tonnage was 5% lower at 140,045 (Q3 2015: 148,712) due to Service hoist and Rock Hoist breakdowns in January. As a consequence hoisting was constrained for half of that month.

Head grade was 44% higher at 1.669% (Q3 2015: 1.156%). The increase in head grade was driven by the improvement in availability of mobile equipment that facilitated development and extraction of massives.

An increase in head grade coupled with a stable plant run resulted in a 47% increase in production of nickel in concentrates and a 6.4% recovery improvement. The recovery improvement was also attributable to the higher average head grade.

Nickel sales 49% higher at 2,072t (Q3 2015: 1,395t) whilst the average nickel price was lower at $9,489/t (Q3 2015: $10,313).

Cash costs decreased by 34% to $7,010/t (Q3 2015: $10,666/t) and all-in sustaining costs decreased by 37% to $7,293/t (Q3 2015: $11,491/t). The unit-cost improvements are due to the increase in production and a reduction in mobile equipment costs as the majority of the refurbishment program (as previously reported) was completed during Q3 2015.

The production outlook for the first quarter in the new financial year will be lower than the quarter under review due to a planned month-long shutdown to tie in with the Trojan re-deepening and other projects as summarised below. Annualised production, however, is forecast to remain broadly flat. The shutdown plan will commence on 7 June 2015 and is projected to be completed on 6 July 2015. Three key projects will be completed and commissioned during this period:

1. Trojan Mine Shaft Re-Deepening Project

The shaft systems that have been extended by a further 240m and which include a loading level at 45/0 level approximately 1218m below the current shaft collar; will be tied in to the existing section. This project, which was started before the mine was placed on care and maintenance in 2008, was halted during that period and only resumed in November 2013.

The commissioned shaft will allow access to some 5.37 million tonnes of resources below the current loading station at 37/0 level.

2. Sub-vertical Service winder and Main Rock Winder Drives upgrade

The obsolete AEG drive for the Sub-vertical man winder as well as the surface rock winder drives will be replaced with new Schneider drives. This will restore reliability and improve operational safety of these two units.

3. Concentrator Plant and Sub-vertical Medium Voltage Switch Room equipment replacement

The old and obsolete Johnson and Phillipson oil-filled medium-voltage distribution switchgear will be replaced with new Actom SF6 switchgear.

The project will be executed by the internal engineering teams as well backed up by engineers from the vendor organisations, notably Schneider (winders), Actom (switchgear) and FL Smidth (part of the new loading station).

NICKEL: BINDURA SMELTER

Work has continued on the smelter re-start and delivery of the furnace bricks for relining is expected in May 2015. Delivery of furnace bricks has been impacted by the effect of reduced power availability in South Africa.

Manufacturing of key components for the electrostatic precipitator is at an advanced stage, with the ductings and ESP inlet-outlet transition expected to be delivered this month. Their installation is planned to be completed by June 2015.

The blower house cooling system (Evapco cooling tower) has been manufactured and is ready for shipping to site. The decommissioned old tower has been removed and preparations for the receipt of the new tower are 75% complete. Meanwhile, fabrication and installation of the new air intake towers has been completed, and painting will be completed this month.

Hardware for the control and instrumentation system is on order. Software programming for the Hatch furnace controller will commence this month.

Repairs on low-pressure HEH 40 Atlas Copco blower components have started in South Africa and delivery is expected in May 2015. This will be followed by commissioning of the low-pressure blowers in the same month.

Tap-changer repairs were completed, and repairs on the rest of the furnace transformers will be completed by the end of June 2015

Diamonds - Klipspringer (South Africa)

TABLE 3

1 Estimated head grade pending processing and reconciliation of accumulated diamond concentrate backlog. A further 9, 983 carats produced during the quarter will be sold in April.

2Estimated recovery pending processing and reconciliation of accumulated diamond concentrate backlog

3Reduced sales volumes as a result of implementation of security review

COMMENTARY

Tonnage throughput at the Klipspringer Slimes Retreatment (KSR) Project was lower than previous quarter as a result of reduced operating hours associated with December/January holiday period. Monthly throughput has subsequently recovered and is consistent with previous quarters.

Mined grades were lower during the quarter and were related to restricted mining flexibility caused by wet conditions and restricted access to working faces on the slimes dam.

As reported in the previous quarterly update, a security incident during January, involving an armed attack on one of the routine diamond exports resulted in a loss of 655 carats. As a consequence of that incident, management conducted a full review of operating, diamond concentrate treatment and final diamond export procedures. Implementation and commissioning of the remedial measures resulting from its review were completed during March, and the security of the operation has been significantly enhanced. The disruption to the diamond production pipeline process however, resulted in a reduced final diamond production and, consequently, reduced sales for the period. The backlog of diamond concentrate inventory accumulated as a result of the implementation of these measures, is expected to be processed and sold during Q1 2016

One sale of 11,748 took place during the quarter and realised a selling price of $19.50 per carat, in line with previous quarters' valuations.

Care and maintenance continues across the property. Re-start options for Klipspringer underground section remain under review.

Bulk sample test work of the Klipspringer Leopard Fissure slimes dams was put on hold during the quarter while the security upgrades were being implemented. However, bulk sampling is expected to be completed during Q1 2016. Results from the bulk sample will inform a decision on the future economic opportunity of processing these slimes through the current slimes retreatment facility.

Sampling of the property's other tailings dams have been taken and a decision will be made as to whether to start treating them within the next few months.

The feasibility of re-opening underground exploitation of the diamondiferous Leopard Fissure is being assessed and a decision will be made during the current financial year.

EXPLORATION

GOLD - Zani-Kodo (dEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - drc)

Regional field investigations continued during the quarter.

No drilling was carried out during the quarter as the exploration spend was reduced in line with the Group's strategy to reduce corporate costs.

Activity was focused on detailed mapping in the Godawiza block and Djalasega areas. The total gold resource remains unchanged at 2.975Moz.

Copper/Cobalt: SEMHKAT/HAILIANG JV (drc)

Fieldwork was suspended as planned due to the rainy season.

The drilling of five priority targets was completed in November and cores delivered to the laboratory for assay. The Company is awaiting the results to plan the next drilling phase.

An administrative meeting with Hailiang in China yielded a preliminary work proposal and a

budget plan for calendar 2016. This will be reviewed and approved this month.